Commentary

Marketing To The Differences Or The Status Quo?

This is going to be a short one this week because, quite frankly, I am not going to rehash someone else's research report. But here is why this report matters and here are some of the highlights.

Multicultural marketing became all the rage about twenty years ago, primarily driven by shifts in the ethnographic makeup of the U.S. -- more specifically, because marketers woke up to the fact that their customers weren't, well, just "American." They were Asian-American, Hispanic-American, African-American, and so on.

A recent study published by the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communications at Florida State University highlights the vast differences and similarities among cultures toward media, attitudes, brands and spending. While this report is limited (all respondents were AOL customers) the value lies in the work itself as a microcosm of the U.S. market as a whole. Remember, people, data is just data -- it is a guidepost to be used as a part of an overall strategy, not the impetus.

I have chosen to highlight findings concerning technology usage and adoption (surprise!). The three groups that were surveyed were as follows: Non-Hispanic White (NHW), African-American (AA), Asian (A), and Hispanic (H).

  • Hispanics and Asians seem to be the leaders in new technology adoption and ownership. Blogs, Web sites, cell phones with cameras, video cameras, DVD burners and MP3 players have higher adoption rates by these two groups. For example, cell phone with camera ownership is 58.9% H, 58.1% A, 49.3% AA and 34.7% NHW.

  • TiVo or digital video recorder adoption is equally represented by the groups with 20.9% H, 18.0 A, 19.9 AA, and 19.4% NHW. The same applies to ownership of DVD players, cable TV and, more important, broadband.

    The report sums up the multicultural equation for new technology ownership rates as follows: "New technology ownership rests heavily on cultural difference. Commonalities across groups hang mostly with the older technologies. The stronger presence of Hispanics and Asians in cutting edge technology possession provides a message to all who are involved in those industries: The emerging minority groups are innovators in this category. AA are more involved in having entertainment technology. NHW are the least vested in having new technology of all these online consumer groups."

    Now, some of these finding fly in the face of what, and whom, we have come to believe drive new technology adoption. But instead of trying to determine how "right" the data is, may I suggest that we use it as a launching pad to gain a better understanding of the differences in any target group. For me, this is more about understanding when to go "mass market" and when to go "niche" and maybe, just maybe, thinking that it is not an either /or decision. Maybe we should be thinking heterogeneously vs. homogeneously across any marketing campaign and leveraging the differences based on platform adoption by the target audience rather than by the total rate of adoption. Perhaps? You tell me.

    For a copy of the report, please drop me an email at techieandthemedia@yahoo.com

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    About the Author

    , Chief Learning Officer/Founder, Talentedly